


Never Scared

by Alyx17



Category: Deadpool (Movieverse), Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies)
Genre: I'm Bad At Tagging, I'm Sorry, Platonic Relationships, Post-Spider-Man: Homecoming, Spider-Man Identity Reveal, Spider-Man: Far From Home (Movie), Villain Quentin Beck, Wade Wilson is a Good Bro
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-12-23
Updated: 2020-02-29
Packaged: 2021-02-26 04:41:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,979
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21917746
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Alyx17/pseuds/Alyx17
Summary: When Mysterio posthumously reveals Peter's identity, Wade is there to help him pick up the pieces.
Relationships: Michelle Jones & Ned Leeds & Peter Parker, Peter Parker & Wade Wilson, Quentin Beck & Peter Parker
Comments: 9
Kudos: 139





	1. Chapter 1

“I have a bad feeling about this one, Spidey,” said Wade solemnly. 

Peter rolled his eyes. “You have a bad feeling about everything,” he said repressively. “Is this your way of saying you’re gonna miss me?”

“As if,” Wade scoffed. 

Peter grinned beneath his mask. 

***

Peter struggled to be Spider-Man after Tony’s death. Maybe it was the Iron Spider suit that invited the comparison, but it still left him gobsmacked when the media speculated that he was the “next Iron Man”. Some days, he felt the weight of this expectation would crush him. How was _he_ supposed to fill the shoes of _Tony Stark_? And where were the other heroes, the ones far more suited for that burden? What was left of the Avengers had scattered after the battle with Thanos.

It was not only the daunting prospect of filling Tony’s shoes that was weighing on Peter. He missed his mentor so much that he could hardly bear it. Reconciling the hero that was Iron Man with the father figure who stayed up all night with Peter binging Star Wars and shoveling down pizza made his head spin. 

_I wanted you to be better_ . He heard it over and over again in his head, and no matter what he did, he couldn’t dislodge it. In his darker moments, he even found himself angry with Tony. _How could you put that on me? Don’t you realize what you’re asking me to live up to?_ When these thoughts surfaced, he inevitably felt guilty. _It’s not his fault that I’m not good enough_ he would tell himself firmly. 

***

Peter had met Wade one night while busting up a drug cartel. Wade must have followed the same intel to their hideout as Peter, because things were already in full swing when Peter arrived. 

Peter had heard of Deadpool before, of course. It was difficult _not_ to have heard about the prolific merc, given the messes he left behind. 

Unlike Peter, Deadpool had no secret identity. A quick google search revealed that the man behind the mask was Wade Wilson, a former special forces operative and victim of the Weapon X program. Peter’s stomach had contracted painfully when he read about some of the program’s methods for inducing mutations in their subjects. 

But actually seeing the man in action was something else entirely. He was absolutely ruthless with the drug lords, but operated with uncontained glee; it was an uncomfortable combination of frightening and amusing. 

Peter watched in fascination until Wade skewered one of the men on his katana. 

“Hey!” he shouted, pushing his way forward into the fray. “Stop!”

Deadpool turned, clapping his hands to his face in disbelief. “ _Spider-Man?!_ ”

Peter nodded stupidly, gaping at the dead man still impaled on the katana. 

“Oh,” said Deadpool, following his gaze. “You’re one of _those_ , aren’t you?” He yanked the katana from the man’s corpse, which fell heavily to the floor. “Sorry, Spidey. I--” 

Deadpool was interrupted as one of the drug lords took advantage of his distraction, shooting him in the abdomen. 

Peter gave a strangled yell, but Deadpool seemed barely to notice the gunshot wound as he tackled the shooter to the ground, wresting the gun from his hand and clobbering him over the head with it. As the man lost consciousness, Deadpool looked down at his stomach. “Fuck,” he said. “Do me a favor, Spidey, would ya? You see an exit wound?”

Peter opened and closed his mouth several times like a trout before he realized what Deadpool was asking. He walked around the other man, looking at the back of his suit carefully. 

“Y-yeah,” said Peter. “It’s… right there.”

“Good,” said Deadpool easily. “I hate having to dig the bullets out.”

Peter stared in disbelief as before his eyes, Deadpool’s bullet wounds knitted themselves up. Peter had a healing factor himself, but this… it was unbelievable. 

“Sorry to beat you to the party,” said Deadpool, gesturing around. All of the drug lords save the one he’d just knocked unconscious were clearly dead.

“You didn’t have to kill them,” Peter said quietly.

“I _did_ actually. It was in the terms of my contract. Now move along, so you don’t have to watch me off this last guy.”

Peter finally processed that he was talking to a _mercenary_ , not another vigilante. He swallowed hard. “I’m not going to let you kill him,” he said.

Deadpool gave a huff of frustration. “What is it with you hero types, anyway? Did you know that these guys are also into human trafficking? Of minors? They’re the scum of the Earth, Webs. The only kind I go for. So just relax.”

“No,” said Peter firmly. “He’ll go to jail.”

Wade snorted. “That’s more than he deserves.”

“I know… but… that’s sort of the point, isn’t it?”

Wade cocked his head, looking at him suspiciously. “You been talking to Colossus?”

“What?” Peter asked, confused.

Wade sighed. “ _Fine._ I guess this is one of my four or five moments or whatever. I’ll take a paycut so that this sick bastard can live. If that’s really what you want.”

Peter nodded. 

Wade looked around, then bent down over the unconscious man. 

“Hey, wait, you said--”

“Calm down, Webs, I’m only…” Wade opened the man’s jacket, feeling around inside of it. “Ha!” He produced a bag of white powder with a smirk. “Bingo.”

Peter scowled, crossing his arms. 

“Come _on,_ ” Wade said. “I was practically a saint just then, let me get my kicks _somewhere._ ” 

Peter sighed, but he didn’t stop Wade from pocketing the cocaine. 

“Hey, you like chimichangas?” said Wade suddenly.

“Do I… what?”

“Chimichangas. Do you like them?”

Peter blinked. “Um… yeah. I do.”

“‘Course you do,” said Wade easily. “Come on, I know a great place that is unopposed to serving masked patrons.”

Thirty minutes later, Peter and Wade sat across from each other in a dingy Mexican restaurant waiting to be served chimichangas. 

Wade cleared his throat. “So. Spidey. I’m a big fan. Been following you on YouTube since your tracksuit-wearing days.”

Peter remembered his first suit fondly. “It wasn’t a _tracksuit_ ,” he protested.

Wade waved his hand dismissively. “Minor details,” he said. “What I mean is, you were fighting without a high-tech suit. Pretty impressive… and stupid.”

“ _You_ fight without tech,” Peter pointed out.

“Invincible,” Deadpool countered, gesturing at himself vaguely. “I’m guessing you’re not.”

“No,” Peter admitted. “I have a pretty good healing factor though.”

“Yeah, no one who describes their healing factor as ‘pretty good’ should be fighting guys with guns in sweats. You’ve got guts, man.”

Peter blinked. “I… uh, thanks.”

Deadpool just nodded, then gasped, clapping his hands together. The chimichangas had arrived.

Wade carefully pulled up his mask, revealing his neck, mouth, and nose. Peter stifled a gasp as a mass of scar tissue was revealed, distorting Wade’s facial features. Without hesitating, Wade started to inhale his chimichangas. 

Peter rolled up his own mask, started in on his chimichangas, and discovered that Deadpool hadn’t over-hyped the place at all. They were _fantastic_. “These are amazing!” 

“Told ya!” said Deadpool happily. He had already finished his food and was eyeing Peter’s plate hopefully. Peter snorted, pushing the plate between them.

“Thanks, baby boy,” said Wade easily. 

Peter winced. Did Wade think that this was a _date_? He obviously didn’t know that Peter was only 16. Suddenly it seemed wildly reckless to have accompanied the mercenary out to this restaurant. 

Wade stopped chewing and surveyed Peter. “Sorry, Webs,” he said. “Don’t mean nothing by it, I flirt with everyone. But to be completely honest, you are second on my list.”

“Your--your list?”

Wade just looked at him until Peter understood and flushed. For the briefest of moments, curiosity overcame his discomfort. “Who’s first?”

“Captain America,” said Wade without missing a beat.

Peter grinned and Wade started laughing, a full contagious sound that made Peter laugh too. Despite himself, he felt _comfortable_ with Wade. 

***

After that, Wade and Peter occasionally teamed up to take down bigger crime syndicates on the strict condition that Wade not kill anyone. Peter was surprised that the mercenary had agreed to those terms. “You’re a softie,” he pointed out to the merc. 

“Nope,” said Wade firmly. “Softies don’t have a quadruple digit kill count.”

Peter shook his head. “Nuh-uh. I’m not buying it. You’re a total bleeding heart.”

“Shuddup, Spidey,” said Wade, but there was no real heat in it. 

To Peter’s immense surprise, he and Deadpool became _friends._ They would even hang out sometimes, eating tacos on random rooftops, talking for hours about whatever came to mind. Peter was unnerved by just how easy it was to talk to Wade. 

One night after a particularly satisfying mafia takedown, Wade and Peter were about to enjoy celebratory tacos on a fire escape in Brooklyn. Peter watched as Wade carefully rolled up his mask to begin eating. 

“Why do you wear a mask?” Peter asked. “It’s not like your identity is a secret.”

Wade looked around at him, shrugging. “It was when I first started with Deadpool.”

“That doesn’t answer my question.”

Wade sighed. “The suit isn’t for my benefit anymore,” he admitted quietly. “I scare people, Webs. Even you, when we first had chimichangas… remember? I saw your face when I pulled up the mask to eat. I know the look. I’ve seen it from every single person who’s seen me since weapon X. The horror. The pity. There was only one person in the Universe who didn’t react like that, and she’s gone.”

Peter’s taco suddenly tasted like ash in his mouth. “Wade, I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean--”

“I know you didn’t, Spidey. It’s a natural reaction to seeing someone as mangled as me.”

“No, I-- that’s not it. I don’t _pity_ you Wade, it just--it’s hard to think about what you had to go through, you know. With Weapon X. The horror isn’t with you. It’s with _them_. I understand if you don’t want to take off the mask, but you don’t have to wear it on my account.” 

Wade looked at him for a long time. Peter thought he wasn’t going to respond at all until he said, “So what’s your story, then? Why the secret identity?”

Peter hesitated, then sighed. “Spider-Man makes enemies. I have people I need to protect.”

Wade looked away, and for a moment Peter thought he might be angry. Then he looked back and nodded slowly. “ _That_ I get. But really, no one knows?”

“My best friend does. And my aunt,” said Peter. “But no one else.”

“Not even the rest of your family?”  
  


“I don’t have any other family,” said Peter softly. “My parents died when I was young and my uncle died when I was in junior high. It’s been just me and my aunt for a long time now. But I can’t lose her. I-- she’s all I have left.”

Wade nodded solemnly. “I’m sorry, baby boy.”

“Thanks,” said Peter softly. They finished their tacos in silence.

***

I’m telling ya, Webs, my bad feelings _always_ mean something.”

Peter sighed. “It’s just _Europe_ , Wade, I’m gonna be fine.”

“Tell me again why you have to go?”

“I um… Avengers stuff,” he said lamely, his face flushing. He still hadn’t found the nerve to tell Wade that he was only 16, and that this was actually a _school trip_. 

“I didn’t know the Avengers were still a thing now that Stark’s dead.” 

Peter felt his stomach clench painfully. “Yeah, well,” he said shortly. 

Wade didn’t push it any further. “Okay, then,” he said. “Let me know when you’re back.”

Peter felt a stab of regret as he watched Wade go. “Yeah, okay,” he said quietly. 


	2. Chapter 2

It had been weeks since Wade had heard from Spider-Man, and he was starting to wonder if he ever would again. He had to be back from Europe by now, right? Was it Wade’s constant flirting that had put him off? His lack of moral compass? 

Wade stumbled into his apartment, slightly drunk and looking very much forward to his bag of Mexican takeout. He sank onto the sagging sofa, digging into the cushions for the TV remote. He tried not to think about Vanessa, and how she used to hate that the remote always ended up there. He tried not to think about his ex-roommate Al, and how she used to bluntly interrupt his self-pity parties.

After an hour of channel surfing, he settled on reruns of America’s Next Top Model. “Tyra’s never gonna stand for this bullshit,” Wade muttered as one of the models walked off the photo shoot over something to do with bad lighting. Tyra’s reaction, however, was interrupted by an urgent local news bulletin. Wade sighed heavily as a well-known news anchor started to discuss the death of some guy calling himself Mysterio. 

Wade was just about to change the channel when the anchor warned that the following footage would be disturbing. Wade had never voluntarily looked away from something disturbing. When Spider-Man was mentioned, he sat bolt upright. 

Wade watched in disbelief as Spidey ordered the drone attack. Something didn’t sit right with him--this didn’t seem like Spider-Man at all. And if he really _had_ done this, it was obviously for a good reason. Wade knew that much. Still, he knew that the press was going to make its typical circus of this. Maybe _this_ was why Spidey hadn’t called him. Maybe he was depressed over what had happened with Mysterio and was lying low to avoid the press. 

Then, the unthinkable happened. Mysterio claimed to know Spider-Man’s identity, insisting that he was someone named Peter Parker. A photo that looked as if it was from a high school yearbook flashed across the screen. Wade’s mind started reeling. No… that couldn’t be Spidey. It couldn’t. He was just a kid...

With slightly shaking hands, Wade pulled out his laptop. It took no effort at all to discover that the schedule of Peter Benjamin Parker, a junior at Midtown High School, aligned most mysteriously with Spider-Man sightings. Spider-Man saved a bunch of kids from the Washington Monument? Peter’s academic decathlon team won a competition in DC that very weekend. A vigilante calling himself ‘Night Monkey’ was seen fighting alongside Mysterio and then Spider-Man appeared to take Mysterio down? It didn’t take a genius to figure out that Night Monkey and Spider-Man were the same hero. And where was Peter Parker during all this? On a school trip. To Europe. 

Any doubts Wade had vanished on the spot. He remembered that Spider-Man had mentioned an aunt. It took no time at all for him to find the address of one May Parker, longtime resident of Queens and legal guardian of Peter Parker.

***

Peter’s breathing became short labored gasps. Panic flooded his brain. _Get away, get away, get away._ People on the street started to turn, pointing at him. Some of them were even yelling things at him, but his senses were too overwhelmed to understand their words. He looked down and saw MJ, her face contorted with terror. Her obvious fear cleared some of the fog in his brain, and he jumped down from his perch to grab her, holding her to him as he swung furiously away from the suddenly hostile crowd. He had no concept of where he was taking her. He just knew he had to get away.

“Peter,” MJ said after a while. “Peter!” 

“What?”

“Let me down!”

“But--”

“Let me down, now! We haven’t been followed, and you need to get to Aunt May. Not many people know we’re dating, but everyone knows she’s your aunt. I’ll be fine, I’ll be fine! Just put me down where no one can see.”

Peter wanted to argue with her, but panic flooded him again at the thought of May. _May._

He deposited MJ in the most secluded spot that he could quickly find. His chest constricted painfully at the thought of leaving her here alone, unprotected.

“MJ--”

“Go!” she yelled.

“Call me as soon as you get home,” he said. With a wince of regret, he took off towards his apartment complex.

He finally saw his building and landed a block away, gasping against the stitch in his side. He did a quick scan with Karen to check for press and was just taking off again when something slammed into him from the side. He went down hard, throwing his arms out to catch himself before his head hit the pavement. He struggled through a tangle of limbs, desperately fighting to get back on his feet, but he froze suddenly when he recognized his attacker. “Wade?!”

“I _knew_ you’d be stupid enough to come here!” Wade hissed. He jumped up, hauled Peter to his feet, and dragged him to the relative cover of a nearby alleyway. 

Peter resumed his struggle. “Let go of me, Wade!”

“What the _fuck_ are you doing here? Waltzing up to this apartment is as good as admitting you’re Spider-Man! They don’t have any real proof yet!”

“I don’t care,” panted Peter. “I don’t care, I need to get to May.”

Wade slammed Peter into the brick wall of the building, making Peter’s head spin. “ _No_ ,” he said firmly. “Call someone. There has to be someone you can call.”

The adrenaline he’d been running off since the news broadcast abated slightly. Why hadn’t he called Happy right away? He pulled out his cell phone to see about fifty missed calls from Happy. He called him back. “Happy, Happy, have you seen it?” he half-sobbed into the phone. 

“Obviously I’ve seen it, Peter! Where are you?”

Peter was hyperventilating; he couldn’t find the words he needed. “I--Aunt May. You need to get her. You need to get her right now.”

“I already have her, Peter, Jesus, who do you think I am! Please tell me you weren’t about to go to the apartment.”

Peter opened and closed his mouth several times, breathing unsteadily. He said nothing.

“Come to the tower, Pete. Now. And don’t admit to anything. This isn’t over yet.”

“I understand,” said Peter shakily. He ended the phone call. 

Wade released Peter, breathing heavily. 

“Wade, I’m--I--”

“It’s okay, kid.”

Peter flinched. “I’m not a kid.”

“You are _literally_ a kid.”

“I’m still the same person,” he mumbled, looking at his feet.

“Aw, Webs, I know that… I’m just--I… why didn’t you tell me?”

“I didn’t want anything to change. I’m s-sorry.”

“How do you think _I_ feel? I’ve been totally out of line with you--”

“No, Wade, that isn’t--”

“I flirted with you--”

“I know, I didn’t--”

“I’m sorry,” said Wade. “I’m a lot of things, but I’m _not_ \--”

“ _I know_ ,” said Peter. “I should have told you...but I liked having someone who didn’t treat me like a kid for once.”

Wade hesitated at that, seeming to mull it over. “Do you have somewhere to go?” he finally asked. 

“Yeah,” said Peter. He hesitated. “Will you come with me?”

“What?”

“I--you don’t have to... but, we could r-really use your help. You know. If you want.”

Wade was silent for so long that Peter wasn’t sure he would answer. “I--ok. Yeah, I’ll help.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, kid. I mean, Spidey. I mean… Peter?”

“Peter’s fine.”

“ _Yeah he is,_ ” Wade quipped. Then he gasped. “Wait shit, no. Fuck. Force of habit. I’m kidding. I--”

Peter giggled in spite of himself. “Come on, Wade.”


	3. Chapter 3

Peter and Wade entered the tower about half an hour later, making quite sure that they hadn’t been seen or followed. 

Happy rushed forward and hugged Peter on sight. “Pete, gosh, kid we were so worried…”

Peter saw May over Happy’s shoulder and his stomach clenched painfully at the sight of her puffy red eyes.

Peter broke away from Happy and hugged May. “I’m so sorry, May, I’m so so sorry…”

“Shush, honey, it’s not your fault…”

“It wasn’t h-how it looked in the video, I swear I d-didn’t want to kill him--”

“Peter I know,” May said firmly. “I know, sweetie.”

“I promise I won’t let anything happen to you--”

“That’s supposed to be  _ my  _ line,” May scoffed, pulling back from her nephew and mussing up his hair. “Spider-Man or not, you’re still my kid.”

May’s eyes suddenly narrowed. “Who is  _ that _ ?!”

“Oh!” said Peter. He’d momentarily forgotten about Wade, who was dressed in his full Deadpool suit. “He’s--um--”

“Wade Wilson, at your service,” said Wade, striking a ridiculous pose that could have been a curtsy. “Peter never mentioned that his aunt was so hot!” 

May blinked. She turned to Peter. “Peter, what the hell is going on? Who is this and how does he know your name?”

Peter sighed. “It’s a long story, but he didn’t know my name until the news broke. We’re um--friends?” 

“FRIDAY?” Happy asked. 

“His name is Wade Wilson. Former military, current mercenary. Regenerative healing factor from the Weapon X program. Known professionally as Deadpool. Boasts a kill count of over 1,000.”

Silence descended over the group.

“Well, when you say it all together like  _ that _ ,” said Wade. “It makes me sound--”

May put her hand up to silence Wade. “I think it’s best if you leave,” she said shortly. “We have quite enough to deal with as it is.”

“Wait!” said Peter. “Wait. May--he helped me. He stopped me from going to our apartment--”

“You were going to the apartment?! What were you thinking?!”

“I panicked--”

“Peter--”

“Look, I trust him.”

May opened her mouth to retort.

“We don’t have time to argue,” said Happy firmly. “If the kid trusts him, that’s good enough for me. Come on. Pepper is waiting for us.”

“Pepper is here?!” asked Peter. His heart momentarily faltered. He hadn’t seen Pepper since Tony’s funeral. 

“‘Course,” said Happy. “No one’s better at spinning a story than Pepper. She came as soon as she heard.”

Peter, May, and Wade followed Happy into a sizable office, where Pepper was on the phone. She was surrounded by television screens, their glow reflected in her eyes as she glanced between them. Muted news stories about Spider-Man played on each one. She drummed her manicured nails on the desktop, filling the room with a soft clicking. 

Pepper glanced up to see them enter. “I have to go,” she said briskly. “Yes. I’ll speak with you later.” She put her phone down. “Pete,” she said, her voice far more tender than Peter felt he deserved. She moved towards him and pulled him into a hug. 

“Hey, Ms. Potts,” he said quietly, his voice muffled against her shoulder. He fought against the sudden lump in his throat, inhaling the heady scent of her perfume.

Pepper hugged May and Happy. She didn’t comment on Wade’s presence. 

“Where’s Morgan?” asked Peter.

“Upstairs sleeping.”

“I shouldn’t be here,” said Peter. “I’m putting both of you at risk--”

“Yes,” said Pepper sardonically. “As the wife and daughter of Tony Stark, we have no experience whatsoever with risk.”

Peter’s eyes widened. He grinned sheepishly. “Sorry, Ms. Potts.”

“Pepper, please, Peter.”

Wade sauntered up, looking awkward. “Hey, uh, Wade Wilson here. Gotta say, you’re even hotter in person! Not that I’ve looked at you  _ not _ in person. I mean--”

Pepper grinned. “Wade,” she said. “It’s good to meet you.”

Wade looked shocked at Pepper’s lack of protest at his presence. She chuckled. “FRI filled me in.” Pepper turned to address the group. “Help yourselves to anything in the fridge, it’s fully stocked.I’m going to stay here, I need to keep up with the news. We can debrief in the morning about damage control.”

May smiled. “I’ll whip something up for us!” she said brightly. 

Happy winced. “I’d better help,” he said. May scowled.

Wade looked suspiciously from Pepper to Peter and seemed to make up his mind about something. “I’ll come too! I’m a natural-born chef,” he insisted, following May and Happy out. 

Peter sighed, sitting down beside Pepper as she settled in to watch the news. 

“You don’t need to watch this garbage, Peter,” she said gently, fixing her gaze on each screen in turn and taking notes on her tablet. “How about you go and help May with dinner?”

Peter was sorely tempted to take this excuse to flee from being alone with Pepper. Now that he was face-to-face with her, he wasn’t sure he could tell her what he had promised himself that he would.

“I um,” said Peter. “Actually, I wanted to say something to you.”

Pepper looked up from her notes, brow furrowed. “What is it, honey?”

_ Honey.  _ Peter couldn’t stand her compassion. He would feel better if she raged and screamed at him. There was only one explanation.  _ She didn’t know. _ “I um-- the b-battle. It got pretty crazy, so I’m not sure whether you saw--”

“The battle?” asked Pepper, her eyebrows knitting together in confusion. “Oh,” she said finally, after a moment of silence. “Oh, yes, I see.” She sounded pained. 

“Y-yeah. Like I said, it got insane and you might have missed it, but I uh--I had the st-stones. Right before Mr. Stark did.”

Pepper said nothing. Her eyes were searching his face, her expression inscrutable. 

Peter swallowed. “It didn’t even  _ cross my mind _ ,” he said, spitting out the words, as if saying them quickly would make it easier. “I’m y-younger and I have  _ powers _ and I should have--maybe if I--he wouldn’t be--” 

Pepper’s face was still unreadable. She briefly closed her eyes, and when she opened them again Peter was terrified to see tears clinging to her eyelashes. 

Peter waited, breathless, for her to say something. The silence stretched on interminably, painfully. “I-if you want the glasses back, you know, EDITH, I can give them back to you. If you--w-want me to leave, I can leave…” Peter trailed off uncomfortably. 

Still, Pepper was silent. She seemed to be steeling herself to say something. Finally, she spoke. “I didn’t know you had the stones,” she said quietly. 

Peter hung his head. 

Pepper got to her feet. She knelt before Peter, taking his face in her hands until he looked up to meet her eyes. “Tony would never have wanted that,” she said softly. “And neither would I.”

“But-- maybe I would have survived! I have--”

“No,” said Pepper. “No, Peter. It wasn’t worth the risk.”

Peter recoiled. “How can you s-say that? How--?”

Pepper sighed. She suddenly looked very tired. “You knew Tony,” she said softly. “He had enough of a martyr complex to put even Captain America to shame...I mean, look what he named those glasses.”

“Even dead I’m the hero,” said Peter, his mouth twitching. 

Pepper gave him a watery smile. “He had that picture of you two framed, you know. From the ‘internship’. He didn’t even realize you were holding that certificate upside down until he had the photo printed. It was one of the first times he really laughed, after...everything. He looked at that picture every single day. Pete--I don’t think he would have been convinced to try and reverse things if you hadn’t been--snapped.”

Peter’s heart plummeted. “I’m so sorry,” he whispered.

“No, Peter,” said Pepper. “I’m not trying to make you feel guilty. I’m trying to help you understand. Tony wanted to reverse things because it was the right thing to do, but what really weighed on him was losing  _ you.  _ And now you’re saying you should have tried to sacrifice yourself? It’s a non-starter Peter. It would have completely invalidated everything Tony did this for.” 

Peter couldn’t stop the tears from coming. He sniffled. “But now, you and M-morgan…”

“I miss him. I miss him every day, and so does Morgan. But he did what he needed to do, as Iron Man. I tried to discourage that part of him for most of our relationship, and that was who he really  _ was _ , in the end. I knew this might happen. And I still told him to do it.”

Peter tried and failed to stifle a sob.

“He  _ loved  _ you, Peter,” said Pepper gently. “I’ve been--trying to give you your space since the funeral, but… I would love it if you would spend some more time with me and Morgan, here at the tower. We’re going to be moving here, permanently.”

At that, Peter launched himself forward into Pepper’s arms and sobbed unrestrainedly. Pepper held him to her. “It wasn’t your fault, Peter,” she said quietly, repeating it until he stopped shaking. 

“S-sorry Ms.--Pepper,” said Peter, finally extricating himself from her arms. 

“Don’t apologize, Pete,” she said, smiling at him. 

“Let me help you with this,” said Peter, gesturing at the television screens. “I need to do  _ something _ .”

***

Wade was happily adding large amounts of shredded cheese to the tortilla on the frying pan. “See, you’ve got to add the cheese right from the start,” said Wade. “If you wait too long, you end up burning the ortilla before the cheese melts. You gotta keep a good low temperature, too, or you won’t get the melty cheese with the crispy tortilla at the same time.”

May half-smiled. “That would explain all my disastrous attempts at making quesadillas,” she said. “What if I wanted to add onions and bell peppers?”

Wade grinned. “You’ve gotta cook those up first, separately.”

“Ahhh. That makes sense.”

“Try one out, girl,” said Wade snappily, passing the spatula over to May. 

“Uhhhh… I don’t know if that’s a good idea,” said Happy. 

May glared at him, snatching the spatula from Wade’s hand. 

***

Peter glanced over at Pepper. He could see dark circles beneath her eyes, which made him feel even guiltier than he did already. He was about to suggest that they both get some sleep when a breaking news bulletin stopped him cold. 

“We are coming to you with live footage of Spider-Man robbing a bank on Jackson Avenue!” 

**Author's Note:**

> Please let me know what you think, I live for comments!


End file.
